


i'll practice my patience

by fanx



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-29
Updated: 2019-11-19
Packaged: 2020-11-02 18:35:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20817149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fanx/pseuds/fanx
Summary: richie’s 17 now. he’s technically a young adult. he can deal with this one-sided crush all fine on his own. after all, he’s been doing this for years. he’s totally fine.





	1. Chapter 1

richie is not in a great mood, which is a shame because eddie’s right here with him, albeit he’s busy entertaining beverly’s nosy ass. the last thing richie wants to hear today (or _ever_) is eddie’s upcoming date with some guy he matched on tinder. richie’s not jealous... at all. he just wishes they’d bring the conversation elsewhere, preferably when richie isn’t within their vicinity.

he knows he’s being uncharacteristically quiet, knows that any time now, beverly is going to nudge him and ask him why he doesn’t have anything snarky or witty to say about eddie’s date, but honestly? he’s just lowkey worried. admittedly, he hasn’t seen what this guy looks like, but he can deduct enough from beverly’s gushing.

hell, richie’s swiped right on a few guys on tinder before and managed to match with some of them, but none of them has looked even remotely close to an ‘adonis.’ who even unironically uses the term adonis these days? apparently beverly does.

“eds, i’m not trying to be mean or anything but uh, don’t you think there’s a low chance you’re being catfished?” he finally pipes in. he thinks he has a career in predictions when he sees eddie rolling his eyes. _totally saw that one coming._

“i’m not _that_ gullible, jesus. i... might have, you know, skyped with him a few times before?”

wow. richie’s heart is totally fine right now. it totally doesn’t feel like someone’s just stabbed him in the heart and twisted the knife around. yeap.

richie settles his eyes on beverly’s scandalised face instead of eddie’s blushing one cause he doesn’t want to know what that look is implying. eddie blushing after confessing that he skyped with a guy he met online not just once, but_ a few times???_

someone needs to wheel him away from here right this moment or so help him god...

“what did you guys even talk about?” beverly starts to prod and this time, richie really feels like fleeing.

“i don’t think we need to know that, bev, geez. gross.”

“what the fuck is that supposed to mean? i didn’t do anything weird with him!”

“yeah, sure. we know eds, _we know_,” he winks, making sure it looks as obnoxious as possible.

“richie, honestly you can be such a jerk sometimes.”

and that’s his cue to leave.

hopping down from the wooden table, he says, “well, i hope your date with tinder adonis goes well. call me if you need anything, like ya know, the usual stuff.” he hopes to god eddie doesn’t take the offer seriously cause if there’s one thing that will be the death of him, it’s eddie coming to him to ask for condoms and lube for him to get it on with another guy that’s not richie tozier. no ma’am.

“do you honestly think i’m the type that puts out on the first date? really?” eddie grits between his teeth, still having half the mind to think about the other students around them who might be eavesdropping on them. “besides, you’d be the last person i’d ask for _those_ stuff.”

“just offering you eds, you don’t have to take it,” he shrugs his backpack’s strap higher on his shoulder before flashing a cheeky smile at beverly. he sees the knowing look on her face all too clearly, but he’s not in the mood to deal with bev and her intuitive little self.

richie’s 17 now. he’s technically a young adult. he can deal with this one-sided crush all fine on his own. after all, he’s been doing this for years. he’s totally fine.


	2. Chapter 2

eddie was quite literally having the time of his life in the middle of the dance floor, surrounded by the rest of the losers and other varying levels of drunk club-goers. richie did join them a few seconds before, but found that a drunk eddie grinding on his dick too much to handle. 

so he ran. he excused himself from them and walked briskly to the bar, calling for the bartender’s attention. he promised himself he wouldn’t drink tonight, if only to stay alert in case eddie or the others made an embarrassment of themselves. richie rarely felt so responsible, but this party was his idea, and looking at how bill was ready to collapse to the floor if not for mike’s steady arms around him, he thought it was a good call to stay sober.

the bartender, a 7 on derry scale but probably more of a 5 on new york scale, came up to him. before he could even ask what drink richie would like to have, richie shook his head with a guilty smile on his face. 

“just water’s fine.” the blond didn’t question it, simply nodded his head once before returning with an iced water in his hand. richie was so gay he couldn’t help but feel a rush of heat at how veiny those hands looked, the fingers long and nails trimmed neatly. 

richie took the drink without saying anything, thinking it’d be wiser than to spurt out whatever gay shit that was on the tip of his tongue. he wasn’t in the mood to be beat up tonight anyway. 

when he turned around in his seat to face the dance floor, he was assaulted with eddie’s grinning face that the drink in his hand almost slipped. he let out a relieved sigh, thanking his quick reflex, before addressing his dearly beloved drunk friend. 

“you okay eds?”

“fine. amazing. GREAT!” 

“oh whoa, steady,” richie said, reaching out his free hand to grip eddie’s arm. eddie wobbled a little before pressing closer to richie, giving him no other choice than to spread his legs so eddie could make himself comfortable between them. eddie’s head barely reached past richie’s even when he was sitting down, but the stool  _was_ high, so he’d cut eddie some slack about his height. for now. the grin plastered on his face was contagious too, and soon richie found himself chuckling. 

“whatcha laughing at? something on... wait,” eddie stopped, looking positively like he was about to vomit, and richie had half a mind to bolt out of the seat as fast as he could, but eddie seemed to swallow something back at the last minute and for the first time in his life, he could say that  _that_ was disgusting. 

“oh god eddie... don’t tell me you swallowed your own puke...”

it was a testament to how drunk eddie was that he barely made a face at that, and instead giggled into richie’s shoulder. every single one of richie’s nerve ending felt like it was alight, and he didn’t just make it into his 22 years of life to die in a night club. cause of death: eddie fucking kaspbrak giggling into his shoulder right after he swallowed his own puke. 

“eds... come on.” richie manoeuvred a move where he had to put the glass of water on top of the counter behind him while at the same time trying his hardest not to jostle the 5 feet 9 of a man literally glued to his front. eddie rarely got drunk so this was definitely a treat. 

“why didya run? i was having...” eddie hiccuped, and now his fucking arms are making their way around richie’s waist and he was  _this_ close to asking eddie for his inhaler. “i was having a good time... like, really,  _really_ good.”

_ yeah me too, eds, me fucking too. _

richie didn’t say that, of course, because he was a fucking coward, and chose to gaze over at the rest of the losers; ben, bill, bev, and... wait, where did stan and mike go?

“hey, i know you’re drunk and all but where are mike and stan?” 

richie could probably qualify as legally blind on a good day, but shit was making it even harder to see with all the flashing lights. if he was honest, he didn’t think he could survive touching any other parts of eddie’s body when he was being this docile, but there was suddenly radio silence from the man before him, so he gingerly poked eddie on the side. eddie barely reacted and it was safe to say that richie might be panicking a little. 

_ god, don’t tell me he fell asleep on me... _

“eddie...? eddie come on man, wake up.”

“rich...” 

he was a hundred percent positive that he froze as he felt eddie’s warm breath along the side of his neck, and all he could fucking do was act like everything was fucking okay, like his heart did not just feel like it almost leapt out of his chest. 

“rich i—”

“whoa, i think it’s time for us to tuck eddie into bed huh?” mike suddenly piped in from beside them, and richie was torn between cursing at him for interrupting them or kissing him for ending this torture. one more minute of eddie acting un-eddie-like would be richie’s end, no questions asked. 

“yeah man,” richie chuckled, nervous as all fuck, as mike pulled eddie away gently from him. if mike noticed anything weird between them, he didn’t say anything. eddie could barely stand on his own and richie regretted not doing anything but watch as the birthday boy downed shots after shots of the drink not even two hours ago. 

sighing, he stood up from the stool as gracefully as he could. he only registered the sweat sticking to his chest and back when all of them huddled out the door of the club and into the fresh winter air. 

they all walked the relatively short distance to eddie and bev's shared studio. eddie was between mike and stan, the only other people who weren’t drunk as shit, his arms slung around each of their shoulders. richie followed them close behind, liking the thought that he was protecting them, although realistically, he could probably do shit.

bev and ben were huddled close together, bev snuggling deeper into ben’s arms to seek warmth from the cold, and bill was just trailing along next to them, hands tucked into his pockets. it was a good party, richie mused, made even better (or worse, richie couldn’t decide) by the stunt eddie pulled back at the club. the words played around his head as he wondered just what eddie was about to say before he was being  _kindly_ interrupted. 

it was probably nothing. he probably just wanted to thank richie for planning his birthday party. he probably... richie blew that thought away before it could even take shape. nothing good ever came out of fantasising, that much he knew. 

at least he didn’t have to fantasise the way eddie felt in his arms anymore, even though it was fucked up to keep hold of that. eddie was drunk. he didn’t mean to hold richie the way he did. he didn’t mean to nuzzle into richie’s neck like he owned it. he didn’t mean to turn richie’s life upside down by just being eddie fucking kaspbrak. 

_ fuck_ , richie sighed, looking up at the dark sky while bill tried to fish eddie’s keys out of his jacket pocket, he’d have to take a cold fucking shower tonight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *chuckles nervously* what the fuck... i don’t even like angst i swear!!


End file.
